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You've heard of the "Great Books"?These are their evil opposites. From Machiavelli's The Prince to Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto to Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, these "influential" books have led to war, genocide, totalitarian oppression, family breakdown, and disastrous social experiments. And yet these authors' bad ideas are still popular and pervasive--in fact, they might influence your own thinking without your realizing it. Here with the antidote is Professor Benjamin Wiker. In his scintillating new book, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World (And 5 Others That Didn't Help), he seizes each of these evil books by its malignant heart and exposes it to the light of day. In this witty, learned, and provocative exposé, you'll learn:

* Why Machiavelli's The Prince was the inspiration for a long list of tyrannies (Stalin had it on his nightstand)* How Descartes' Discourse on Method "proved" God's existence only by making Him a creation of our own ego* How Hobbes' Leviathan led to the belief that we have a "right" to whatever we want* Why Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto could win the award for the most malicious book ever written* How Darwin's The Descent of Man proves he intended "survival of the fittest" to be applied to human society* How Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil issued the call for a world ruled solely by the "will to power"* How Hitler's Mein Kampf was a kind of "spiritualized Darwinism" that accounts for his genocidal anti-Semitism* How the pansexual paradise described in Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa turned out to be a creation of her own sexual confusions and aspirations* Why Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was simply autobiography masquerading as science

Witty, shocking, and instructive, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World offers a quick education on the worst ideas in human history--and how we can avoid them in the future.

This month's Book With Buzz: "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture - perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. See more

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A valuable contribution.... This book will open many eyes." ---Elizabeth Kantor, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to English and American Literature
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Author

10 Books that Screwed Up the World is an excellent book to get for your children before they go off to college--a book that will give them insight into the kinds of ideas that have done so much damage to our society, ideas they're likely to encounter in their classes. This book is a companion to my 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read, which takes readers on a tour of the good books, the books that your children should be reading even if their professors aren't assigning them.

Based on the premise that ideas have consequences and writing ideas down for future generations amplifies these consequences, Wiker gives background information about each author, the author's imagination of humanity, draws out some specific ideas from the selected books and explains the consequences at the time of their writing and in our society today.

I was surprised by some of the selections, particularly Descartes, but the point Wiker draws about the consequences of _some_ of Descartes ideas and how they were used by others (the authors of the other books that screwed up the world in particular).

Those who haven't read the book might infer that this is a black-list of books to be avoided. Those who post this in the reviews are simply commenting out of ignorance, posting "reviews" of books they haven't read, and in aghast horror of someone telling you not to read a book disagreed with they declare you must not read this book they disagree with (and that without even reading it!). Brilliant.

Rather, this is an overview of these books and how their ideas have impacted society negatively as a spring board to whet the appetite to do more reading of these books. Since reading this text I have acquired copies of several of the books discussed, and plan on inviting friends who haven't read 10 Books that Screwed up the World to read and discuss some of the 10 books.

I wish everyone who lives in the Western World would read this book.It is an easy and fun read considering the material it covers.It exposes the foundations of Liberalism, Socialism, and Politically Correct Think, which all center around building Utopia, and takes and honest look at some past attempts at building a Utopia.It is not preachy but it is written from a Christian perspective.IF YOU ARE A LIBERAL, I DARE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK WITH AN OPEN MIND.The Audible version of the book is very well read, and if you don't like a book I believe they will let you return it for a full refund.I bought several extra copies of this book so that I can loan it out to anyone who is willing to read it.